Catalog
5 Francs
| Issuer | Bank of Algeria - French Administration |
|---|---|
| Year | 1873 |
| Type | Standard circulation banknote |
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| Obverse description | The obverse is printed in black intaglio on a pale ground, with two large allegorical figures seated at left and right flanking the central text block — a female figure at left and a male figure at right, each rendered in classical style. The bank title BANQUE DE L'ALGÉRIE and denomination CINQ FRANCS appear in bold letterpress at centre, with the Arabic equivalent خمسة فرنك below, followed by the date 22 AVRIL 1873. A central oval cartouche at lower centre carries a printed anti-counterfeiting warning in French, and the denomination numeral 5 appears in each corner. |
|---|---|
| Obverse lettering | BANQUE DE L'ALGÉRIE CINQ FRANCS خمسة فرنك 22 AVRIL 1873 Le Secrétaire Gal Le Caissier Prl L'ARTICLE 139 DU CODE PÉNAL PUNIT DES TRAVAUX FORCÉS À PERPÉTUITÉ LE CONTREFACTEUR |
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| Comments |
The Banque de l'Algérie was established in 1851 as a colonial note-issuing institution, modeled loosely on the Banque de France but operating under tighter government oversight given the colonial administration's concerns about monetary stability in a territory still only decades into French occupation. By 1873 the bank was the sole legal issuer in Algeria, a monopoly it would hold until 1949.
Imprimerie Gabasson was a Lyon-based printing house — its involvement here rather than one of the Paris firms is worth noting, as colonial currency work of this period was more commonly routed through the capital. Schleider's engraving credit places this firmly in the intaglio tradition of French provincial commercial printing.
Pick 13 is among the scarcer surviving issues of the series, with few examples documented in institutional collections.